Thanks for your comments guys,
There is a track there which is not picked up in the photos, the track was the type made by animals running through the undergrowth not much but better than trying to wade in the ferns. Also there is a mortor crater to the left so making this route unusable.
The figures were from the Dragon German Medical Troops and the survivors set from DML I think.
As for the spitting blood I wish I had some wonderful complex answer for that but it is only some fibre from a hemp rope painted and stuck in place. But it seems to have done the trick.
The undergrowth is some dried ferns I picked up in the train section of a model shop.
Cheers
Robbo